Crushed Blackberry and Cornmeal Cake by Alison Roman

Berries in the winter are an act of resilience. They’re a burst of hope for warmer days. I wanted to make this seemingly summer cake on a zero degree day because my heart needed a reminder that seasons don’t last forever. Seasons are just that -- seasons. Something good is always around the corner. I love the way cooking can be an act of resilience. Resistance against melancholy, despair, and even the cold. 

Choosing what to cook directs our mindsets and spirits. To make a decadent meal in the middle of grief says, “Against all odds, I can still find pleasure.” Even better, cooking for someone else in the middle of grief says, “I will find it within myself to be a blessing.” In the past year, I have known much grief. Cooking has helped me climb my way through it. 

Food is a physical, incarnational way to express love and concern for other people. It’s the realest way I know how. Real in the sense that the people you love can see, smell, taste, and be nourished by your food. Cooking is embodied love.  

This blackberry cake was shared with people I love: Madeline, Sam, Kailey, J, my in-law parents, and Gina who sits at our apartment lobby’s front desk four days a week. (All at different times of course, because you know, pandemic). Sharing this cake was the best part of this cake. 

As far as baking went, the assembly was rather quick and could all be done by hand. My favorite part was manually crushing 2 pints of blackberries, releasing the juices from their little pods and smelling their sweet fragrance. The blackberries are incorporated at two different steps. Half of them get folded into the batter, and the other half are poured on top of the batter once it’s in the cake pan. This ensures a rather even distribution of berries in this otherwise subtly sweet cake. 

I think my cake turned out drier than it’s supposed to be, primarily because I called another audible and swapped regular all-purpose flour for GF all-purpose flour in a 1:1 ratio. I was a little disappointed. I’ve swapped in GF flour in two different recipes now, and both have wound up drier than expected. Upon hearing about this difficulty, my baking-expert pal, Margaret, did some quick research and sent me this illuminating article from King Arthur about how to sub in GF ingredients without losing moisture and volume. The article suggests that beyond a flour substitute, a GF recipe will need Xanthum gum and additional eggs for wetness. I’m looking forward to giving this method a try in my next Alison dessert. 

Lastly, I was very pleased by my choice of cake condiment. Yes, cakes can have condiments, too! Alison suggests butter and honey, which I’m sure tastes nice. But what I wanted more was lemon curd! I had leftover egg yolks from another recipe I was working on and didn’t want them to go to waste. So I whipped up a half recipe of lemon curd, and boy oh boy, did it elevate the cake experience. Not only in terms of flavor, but also moisture - the curd made up for the cake’s dryness. 

22 recipes cooked, 203 to go.

Dropping off cake to Kailey. A highlight of my week!

Cake is an excellent accompaniment to folding laundry.

Soy-Brined Halibut with Mustard Greens, Sesame, and Lime by Alison Roman

I like seafood. I never crave it. Some seafood is more appealing to me: salmon, calamari, mahi mahi. Other seafood makes me squirmy: clams, mussels, sardines. I’ve made salmon and shrimp before, but nothing else. 

Of course, there are a total of 30 seafood recipes between Alison’s two cookbooks, and this project will force me to cook all the seafood out there (including a whole branzino)! I had to start somewhere, right? Why not make it halibut. 

In the Midwest, halibut is not readily available in a regular grocery store, but I was able to track some down at Whole Foods. Halibut is also a bit pricey here, so I chose to cut this recipe in half and just make two filets (not four). 

Halibut is a thicker, mild white fish. Its meaty flesh is very impressionable. It easily absorbs the flavors it’s next to. In this recipe, soy sauce is the leader of the flavor pack. The fish is brined in it, along with a bit of rice vinegar and water, for 1-2 hours before showtime. This brine is primarily motivated by flavor, not so much for maintaining moisture like a turkey brine. 

If cooking fish were always this fast and easy, then I would have no reason to be so intimidated. Cooking this halibut was as simple as placing the fish in a saute pan in a pool of soy sauce, sesame oil and water over a light simmer. Cover the pan and let it cook through for 7 minutes. The steam cooks the fish through without drying it out, and creates a nice steaming liquid to braise the mustard greens. Mustard greens were a fun, tangy pairing for this somewhat bland fish. And a good amount of fresh lime juice and toasted sesame seeds brought it all together. 

I followed Alison’s suggestion and served this with Crispy Potatoes with Onions and Parsley. But I think this could just as easily go over a bowl of coconut rice.  

I didn’t expect to like this dish as much as I did. I’m looking forward to trying it in the summer, eating it on our deck with a glass of chilled white wine in hand. 

21 recipes cooked, 204 to go.

Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Onions and Parsley by Alison Roman

I have something to admit. I made this recipe twice before writing about it. The first time, I failed. The potatoes weren’t boiled long enough and when I tried smashing them, they fell apart. (Alison suggests using a steamer basket but I don’t have one of those.) I still went to the effort of frying the broken potato bits, but they looked pretty sad and were not the right texture. 

The second time around I had better success. A few of the potatoes still fell apart during the smashing, but the majority held together. This time, I chose potatoes that were no larger than a golf ball, no exceptions. I let the potatoes boil for closer to 20 minutes, instead of 10-15, and let them cool for 3-4 minutes before smashing. I used the bottom of a wide water glass to flatten the potatoes, not a fork. Then I left the potatoes alone for longer while frying, and they thanked me for it - getting crispier than before. 

These potatoes are topped with parsley and sliced onions fried in butter. You can’t go wrong with onions fried in butter. You just can’t. Except if you burn them, but don’t do that! 

This dish can be served with just about anything. I made mine with Soy-Brined Halibut (post to come).

20 recipes cooked, 205 to go.

Also, how cute is this tiny potato!

Spicy Garlicky White Beans by Alison Roman

I recently shared the story of how I came to love beans in high school by way of bean & cheese burritos from Del Taco. Back then, I knew so little about bean varieties and even if I had heard of a lima bean, I probably would have been scared to try one. The only beans I recognized for many years were black and pinto. Growing up in Southern California around authentic Mexican food, black and pinto were practically the only kinds of beans that mattered. They were also the only kinds I dared to cook until a few years ago when I was given the life-changing gift of a NYT Cooking subscription. 

I could write a whole essay on my love for NYT Cooking, but that’s for another day. This platform encouraged me to try all types of beans: cannelini, butter, kidney, great northern, gigante, you name it. A few of my favorite white bean recipes are: 

• Creamy Braised White Beans by Ali Slagle

• Tomato and White Bean Stew by Colu Henry

• Tomato-y White Beans with Breadcrumbs and Preserved Lemon by Alison Roman

White beans are particularly great for winter. When cooked, their creamy texture and buttery flavor work splendidly in other warm wintery foods like stews and soups. Or they can be served on their own with just garlic and chile flakes added, just like this Spicy Garlicky White Beans recipe. 

This dish is rather straightforward, but I think that’s the point. In my opinion, it’s too simple to be served as a dinner entree. Rather, it’s a dependable, last-minute side, or lunch on a snowy day, because it’s quick to make and only requires pantry staples. You could also use black or pinto beans if that’s what you have on hand -- it’s meant to be a template (bean + spice + garlic). In case you were wondering, I served this as a side with the Paprika-Rubbed Chicken, and ate the leftovers on a piece of toast for lunch the next day.

I’m also not the only one obsessed with beans. For proof, please enjoy this video of Bernadette Peters singing about magical beans in the original Broadway production of Into The Woods (starting at 2:33).

19 recipes cooked, 206 to go.

Kinda-Sweet Granola with Coconut and Turmeric by Alison Roman

What makes for a good granola recipe?

1. Every good granola recipe has an X factor. 

This granola has 3 X factors: 

• Quinoa (the tiny crunch!)

• Egg Whites (this makes it even crunchier)

• Chile Powder (I know it says turmeric, but I called an audible. Granola is better with a hint of heat.)

2. Every good granola recipe is also a template. 

Nuts, seeds, grains, spices, dried fruit, coconut, maple syrup, honey: any of these will do. Almost every ingredient is listed as a group of options. I.e. “½ cup millet, quinoa, or white sesame seeds.” What must stay are the oats, egg whites, salt and cinnamon. The oven temperature and bake time are immovable. If you’re wondering, I used these ingredient options: coconut flakes AND shredded coconut, quinoa, almonds, pepitas, maple syrup, coconut oil, chile powder.

3. Every good granola recipe makes a lot of granola. 

If I’m going to make granola, I want a big batch of it so that it lasts me (and my very hungry partner) at least a week. I think some recipes don’t make large quantities because they’re afraid of overcrowding the baking sheet, and therefore, uneven toasting. But Alison’s low-and-slow approach and instruction to stir it every 15 minutes of bake time avoids that. 

In summary, this is a good granola recipe. 

18 recipes cooked, 207 to go.